1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a slave device, and more particularly, to a slave device which is connected to a host device and shares a storage device with the host device.
2. Description of the Related Art
As memories, particularly, non-volatile memories such as flash memories, increase in capacity and decrease in size, the memory capacity of peripheral equipment such as digital cameras, MP3 players, music video players and portable data terminals tends to increase. Moreover, in the case where an image taken by a digital camera is downloaded to a host device such as a personal computer, or the case where an MP3 file stored in a host device is transmitted to an MP3 player, data stored in the storage device of a terminal must be shared with a host.
Hereinafter, a computer device is referred to as a host device, and devices such as terminals, zip drives, MP3 players and digital still cameras that are connected to the host device are referred to as slave devices.
FIG. 1A is a block diagram showing an example of the connection between a host device and a storage device according to the prior art. Referring to FIG. 1A, a detachable storage device is connected to a host device. The host device includes a file system. The file system of the host device is connected to the storage device by a coupling device. The storage device is realized as a detachable or external storage device. When this storage device is connected to the host device by the physical coupling device, application programs within the host device can use the storage device in the same manner of using a storage device within the host device through the file system of the host device.
FIG. 1B shows a case in which a host device is connected to a slave device including a storage device. Referring to FIG. 1B, a slave device includes a storage device therein. In this case, the host device uses an application program to perform connection to the slave device.
For example, a digital camera is connected to a personal computer by a serial type of coupling device. Image data stored in the storage device of the digital camera is read by the personal computer using an application program, which is provided by a digital camera manufacturing company for the connection between a digital camera and a personal computer. In other words, the host device has application program for a corresponding slave device in order to share data with the storage device of the slave device. Accordingly, conventional technology is disadvantageous in that a host device must have an application program which is exclusively used with a corresponding slave device in order to share the storage device of the slave device. In addition, conventional technology has a problem in that it is difficult to use a universal application program when a host device shares the storage devices of a plurality of slave devices.